2.1. The Derivatization of Proteins
Those skilled in the art will appreciate that there are many compounds that can react with specific amino acid residues in proteins, e.g., with sulfhydryl, amino, carboxyl moieties. These reagents are substrate specific, in the sense that each reacts only with one or a few specific amino acids wherever they occur within a protein's sequence. However, the reactivity of such reagents is not affected by the adjacent or neighboring amino acids that form the environment of the reactive moiety. Thus, the reactivity of such compounds is not context or neighborhood specific.